Donald Trump spends $76 million on attorneys as legal troubles mount ahead of US Presidential elections
Former US President Donald Trump’s financial investments and legal matters remain checkered by bankruptcies and blunders ahead of the Presidential elections.
Trump has also spent a fortune on legal fees in the last two years, reported Associated Press. Trump’s investment in Eli Bartov, a New York University accounting professor, is being seen as another failed venture in the portfolio of the billionaire, causing more financial strain for the former US president.
Trump’s Save America political action committee paid Bartov nearly $930,000 last year as an expert witness in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case that threatens the former president’s real estate empire, according to new Federal Election Commission filings.
An Associated Press analysis of new Federal Election Commission filings shows the payments to Bartov are among $54 million in legal expenditures made last year by Trump’s political fundraising machine.
Trump has been spending big on attorneys as he battles multiple lawsuits and dozens of felony charges in four criminal cases. Majority of these payments came from Save America, 84 per cent of the total expenditure of the committee going towards legal fees.
Coupled with FEC data from 2022, AP’s review found that Save America, Trump’s presidential campaign and his other fundraising organisations have devoted $76.7 million to legal fees over the two years. The hefty sum underscores the legal jeopardy Trump faces as he marches toward securing the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The most prominent lawyers associated with Trump’s legal matters have all received more than $5 million in legal fees, with the bill footed by the campaign donors of the former president, said the FEC filings.
Alina Habba, who represented Trump in the sexual assault and defamation suit brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, ended up earning the most in legal fees when it comes to the former US president, getting over $6 million.
Trump suffered a stinging loss in the Carroll case. Juries awarded her more than $88 million. And the criminal cases carry greater political and personal risk for him. Even as the former president drains his campaign coffers to pay for his personal attorney fees, he’s sought to transform the legal woes into an opportunity by portraying himself as the victim of a corrupt justice system.